The Wizardry of ‘Oz’ – a peek behind the curtain of the anti-GM movement

UPDATE (October 17, 2012): Dr. Oz aired yet another episode warning of the dangers of GM foods on October 16, 2012. I am not a fan of Dr. Oz. And I haven’t been for years. The airing of this episode is not a random event. It comes on the heels of the Séralini study (more here), the publication of Séralini’s book, the release of Jeffrey Smith’s latest video (coincidentally, it is narrated by Lisa Oz) and the forthcoming food labeling referendum in California, Prop 37. Dr. Don Huber has been ‘on the road’, too, spinning his pathogenic tale in the EU.

Dr. Oz Show: Ratings + Bias = YEP.

“This episode of the Dr. Oz Show is brought to you by Séralini, Smith and the Say YES to Prop 37 initiative.”

ORIGINAL POST December 10, 2010: Last year when the whole Triffid (flax) issue came to light, I did some research on Genetic ID, the lab/firm behind the discovery of Triffid in the EU food supply chain. The main question that I had was – what’s the incentive for this particular lab to sniff out a de-registered, never commercially produced transgenic flax cultivar? (when the potential for rents would be limited (one would think, anyway))

Earlier this year, I took the initiative to mine some publicly available information on the internet and uncovered some interesting linkages amongst Genetic ID, the Maharishi Institute, the Natural Law Party and other anti-GM/GE individuals, organizations and firms. See the network below. The connections illustrated within the network represent a variety of linkages from board positions, organizational memberships, funding connections, fiscal interests in firms/companies, attendance at common events or like-sponsorship activities. This data set, and the network, is – by no means – complete. But the graph certainly sheds an interesting light on the interconnectedness amongst actors in this anti-GM/GE context.

Genetic ID is at the centre of the network but I would like to draw your attentionto another node: Jeffrey Smith. You will recall that Smith got the lion’s share of airtime and the accolades (relative to Dr. Pam Ronald*) on the Dr. Oz episode earlier this week on Genetic Engineering and GM Food (- to view the episode, follow this link: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/genetically-modified-foods-pt-1). Jeffrey Smith is the VP of Communications for Genetic ID. He also has close connections to the Natural Law Party and, although I was unable to find a documented or direct connection to it, the Maharishi Institute. The Maharishi – a Transcendental Meditation “TM” yogi – and his legacy of affiliated interests and institutions are also central. Most of the organizations and several of the individuals are from Fairfield, Iowa where the Maharishi University is centered. The Maharishi (1914-2008) was a proponent of Vedic Science (look it up, weird stuff) who established the Natural Law Party. The NLP’s platform revolves around the Vedic Science and TM (Jeffrey Smith ran for US senate in 1998 in Iowa for the NLP). The Natural Law Party has branches in both the US and in New Zealand. (check out Smith practicing ‘yogic flying’ on: http://academicsreview.org/reviewed-individuals/jeffrey-smith/)

But, interestingly enough, guess who is also part of this celebrity network? Yep – Dr Oz. Apparently, Lynch, Oz and some other celebrities, including Clint Eastwood and George Lucas, got together for a fundraiser in late November in an effort to bring Transcendental Meditation to veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (see http://maharishi.posterous.com/). And if you happen to be in NYC on Monday night, you might even want to take in The David Lynch Foundation Benefit Evening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (http://www.davidlynchfoundation.org/emailing/2010_09_met.html). Dr. Oz will be there.

This is the crux of the problem. Bias. This convoluted network that appears to begin with ‘TM’ and end with ‘OZ’ shows how good science and good science communication can be high-jacked and manipulated in entertainment media.

I think that it is safe to say that our GE advocate, Dr. Pam Ronald, was screwed from the get-go on Dr. Oz’s Show. In my opinion, the Show had no intention of representing the real, verifiable, documented side of this debate. How could it?

Someone is going to ‘get all up in my grill’ if I say that the Dr. Oz Show is responsible for intentionally spreading false information. So, I won’t say that. But based upon the network that I outline here – one which Oz appears to be strongly embedded in and linked to – I think that it is fair to say that the “good” Doctor (I use this term loosely) represents the interests of the anti-GM/GE movement. He has certainly demonstrated an anti-science bias against GM crops and food.

*Dr Ronald is Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Davis, where she studies the role that genes play in a plant’s response to its environment. She is the co-author of Tomorrow’s Table. And by the way, Dr. Ronald’s husband (and co-author of the book) – Raoul Adamchuk – is the Market Garden Coordinator at the UC Davis Student Farm and has expertise in organics/production). Check out my blog entry on their book.

9 thoughts on “The Wizardry of ‘Oz’ – a peek behind the curtain of the anti-GM movement”

So, the whole anti-GM movement is condensed here, all in one place for our collective enlightenment. Thank you, thank you! The era of Monsanto is upon us. Feeding the world will be easy. Grant money will flow to the institutional town criers of GM virtue. The naysayers of GM science, Smith, OZ and their bedraggled followers all will be force fed Round-up soaked maize and soy. Haha! Victory for GM science!Sad to pop your delusional bubble, but beyond Smith, OZ and the Maharishi and the celebrity cadre named above are hoards of absolutely normal folks who also take exception to the corporate takeover of our food supply. With every patented Monsanto seed, advancing upon the feral landscape and raping a natural native species, so too advances Monsanto’s title to this new bastard spawn. Crow all you want about the Maharishi crowd, the GM facts cannot be hidden behind this cheap attack, especially when mounted by a GM hack.

My grandfather used to say.. what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Translation – if loose connections between a scientist and industry automatically point to delusional brainwashing, why can’t these types of statements be made about the other side of the debate?Irrational comments (raping?bastard spawn?delusional?) on a blog on a Friday night- perhaps a journey to self-awarenss is in order? Maybe some meditation? (yes, meditation)

In an update to this blog, check out The Honest Truth about TM’s blog entry covering a study by University of Alberta researchers that challenges the health-value implications of Transcendental Meditation and accompanying research studies: http://transcendental-meditation-honestly.blogspot.ca/ The study was done for the United States Department of Health and Human Services.